Born To Be A Dancer
by Rose G
Summary: Doctor, Rose and Jack a conversation about music and some dancing. Something to fill in time between the monsters.


Born to Be A Dancer

Rose G

Disclaimer - All characters, settings are property of BBC TV; songs are copyright to their authors and I have made no money from their use.

Dedication - For Mel, who was singing 'Born to be a Dancer' with me, when we both come up with the same mental image at the same time and didn't stop laughing all the way home. Sorry it took so long.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, a gesture not lost on either of his companions. Jack caught Rose's attention and then whispered to her, deliberately loud enough for the Time Lord to hear. 'When he starts going on about how much better music was in his day, you distract him and I'll escape. Got it?'

'What about me?'

'You're the youngest. It'll be educational for you.'

'Oh, see you in Hell, Harkness.'

'Oi, don't quote my own words back at me, Rose. That's just not on. You're meant to be distracting he who must be obeyed, so's I can listen to my records in peace without him saying how good Gallifreyan music was. Or at least enough that I can -'

The Doctor reached over and stopped the music, much to Rose's relief. 'You asked for it, Flyboy. I can put up with 51st century stuff that sounds like robot mice doing the conga, and I can somehow put up with having you in the same room and shouting your mouth off, but not both together.'

'You'd let Rose have on whatever she wanted, wouldn't you?'

'Yep.' He grinned over at Rose. 'But then you never comment on what a lady chooses to wear.'

'Ah, now this isn't fair, you two! I get both of you stealing my lines, then him laying into my music...look, I apologised for that incident on the last planet, didn't I?'

'You still haven't got the bloodstains off of my door, mind,' the Doctor commented wryly. 'And until you have, you're fair game.'

'I offered, didn't I? You idea to sit safe in the Vortex for a while; i's not my fault I can't paint the outside doors from in here.'

'Apes...' Laughing, the Doctor slapped Jack on the shoulder; the Captain threw a mock punch at him.

Taking advantage of the pair of them being busy with their wrestling match, Rose slipped over to the music centre and swapped Jack's selection for one of her own, wondering whether it'd be safer to throw the disc away and have Jack after her or keep it and have this repeated next time Jack wanted to play it and the Doctor was around.

She'd hardly listened to any of these since she'd met the Doctor; it didn't mean she'd forgotten the introduction to this song, nor the first line, sung in an accent almost identical to Jack's. _"There was a guy, got buried, under ten million pounds -"_

'Hey, Rosie, play anything else from my dearly beloved homeland, except bloody surfer punk. Does my head in.' Jack was almost breathless but grinning as he stood by the Doctor.

'Rose, I swear, if you've got Debaser on that album, then I'm kicking you off right here and now, Vortex notwithstanding. Those songs are just sick.'

'Okay, okay but I like 'em. What am I allowed to listen to, then? Something that doesn't offend either of you. Beatles?

'Nah. All the magic goes outta them songs when you know what inspired them.' The Doctor smiled lazily, looking smug.

'What, like dope?'

'Was thinking more of daytrips to Puragnarus, with me. You'd o' been amazed at all these pilchard flavoured semolina puddings they kept dishing up. Oh, and the dominant life form - stop it, Jack - was penguins. They called their offspring 'elementarys.' Fantastic place. D'you know I even got paid royalties for that one?'

'Where'd Edgar Allan Poe come into it all?'

The Doctor shrugged. 'Never met the bloke. Lennon was great but a bit prone to...well, he had certain techniques for boosting his creativity. Fantastic singer, mind - and he liked peace. I like that. I like peace.'

'What you on about?' Jack queried.

'Come on, Jack, tell me they hadn't forgotten The Beatles by your time? You're the man who claims he's been everywhere, done everything - musta heard of them.' Rose told him, amused to see Jack Harkness admitting to anything less than total, universal knowledge.

'Yeah, yeah. Know the song, went to a few of their gigs...sold tickets to a few more. I was wondering about this whole Doctor as peace loving hippy thing, really. I'm making it eighteen revolutions, twelve full on wars and a handful of natural disasters since I've joined. Don't quite fit the vibe, does it? I'm not even gonna comment on the hair.'

'Leave the hair out of it, Jack. There's ideals an' all that; sides, I do like peace. It's just that everyone else seems to get a kick from fighting. I go along with it, keep the peace after a fashion.'

'C'mon, you guys. Am I allowed to play anything or not?'

'Course you can.' That was Jack, leering at her, trying to ignore the Doctor glaring at him. 'Got anything to dance to?' One dark eyebrow raised suggestively, including both of them in his invitation.

The look made Rose laugh; reminded her of the local playboys, going out on Saturday night back home, after anything that looked female, and that reminded her suddenly of something her and her mates used to sing, a track that could have been written for him...It took a minute to track the disc down, and the Doctor and Jack were too busy flirting and pretending to be unaware that they were being flirted with, to notice until she'd let it play the first verse.

'Who's this?'

'Kaiser Chiefs.'

'Never heard of 'em. Jack seems to approve, though.'

They both glanced at the Captain, who was staring into the distance, and had already picked up the refrain of 'Cut through the city on a Saturday night...'

Rose giggled. 'Not half as much as he's gonna like the last verse. Wait.' Jack had stopped singing the chorus, and now stood in silence.

"_I want to do it on your birthday._

_I don't want to waste a moment with you,_

_I just wanna dance the whole night through."_

He waited until the track ended, then turned to eye them up. 'It'd been more accurate if it was 'with both of you,' but it's a good idea. You want to try it some time?'

'Mind out the gutter, Jack,' the Doctor warned him.

'Gutters aren't my thing. Was thinking more of beds - or the floor.'

'Exactly what I was afraid of, Flyboy.' The Doctor sighed, managing to sound both long suffering and tolerant. 'You deliberately pick that song to give him ideas, Rose?'

'Complete accident. Got the tracks mixed up - I wanted this one, actually.' She pressed play, keeping a close watch on Jack's face. She didn't want him so enthralled by the singer's voice that he missed the lyrics.

"_You and me were made_

_to be together always."_

'No-one's ever said that to me,' Jack commented.

'How suprising.'

'Shut up, you two!' They'd both talked over the first chorus; Rose turned the volume up so they had to listen to it.

"_Do you know what I've been thinking?_

_I lay back and think of England._

_Do you know my re - al answer?_

_I was born to be a dancer,_

_I was born to be a dancer."_

'They wrote that special for you, Jack. Your song.'

'Well...if it's my song, then it's my dance. You up for it? Just a dance?'

Jack put the track on repeat, then grabbed her hands and ignored the Doctor's glare as he spun Rose around in the limited space. He danced as well as he did everything else, if not better, and it seemed a shame to Rose that it was such a short song, and that he then walked over towards the Doctor. The Time Lord had stepped backwards until the wall got in his way, but he seemed reluctant to leave the room.

'C'mon, Doctor. I know you dance - seen you with Rose. You're good at it. C'mon.'

'No way, Jack.'

'He promises to behave, Doctor. I got out in one piece, didn't I? And with all my clothes still intact. It's only dancing.'

'Oh, right, gang up on me, why don't you? Rose, if you don't personally bin that CD, I'll...I'll...'

'Stammer at me in a menacing fashion? Go on, give Jack his dance.'

Jack winked at her, then grabbed the Doctor and led him onto the clear floorspace. She watched them for a while; the Doctor as edgy at first as though he had his arms round a Dalek, then as smug as she ever remembered him looking, and Jack, singing softly, making every move a seduction and a joke at once. They were so absorbed that they didn't notice the change of disc until the intro, when the Doctor looked over and grinned.

He disentangled himself from Jack and hurried over to her. 'You dancing, Rose?'

'If you're asking.'

Jack stepped out of their way and stood watching them dance, his soft voice making the old lyrics seem written just for them, for this moment of peace and safety.

"_Love is all you need..._

_All you need is love..._

_All together now _

_all you need is love."_

Their song.

Songs in order 'Monkey Gone to Heaven,' Pixies, 'I am the Walrus,' The Beatles, 'Saturday Night', 'Born to Be a Dancer' Kaiser Chiefs, 'All You Need Is Love,' The Beatles


End file.
